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Chujin pushed the door open and stepped into the house.
He was tired, a long day at the steamworks had left him drained. Most of his shift was spent working on the assembly line machinery, setting things up, changing tooling, maintenance, that sort of thing. His uniform and fur were stained with grease and oil from crawling around on the machines all day.
The door swung closed behind him, latching into place as he dropped his toolbox on the floor with a sigh. The shower was calling to him, soaking in hot water always took the edge off his sore body. Ceroba greeted him in the main room with a gentle smile, wordlessly giving him a hug.
His back cracked pleasantly, earning a chuckle from his wife. “They’re working you pretty hard, huh?”
“We’re about to start mass production of televisions and radios, the boss wants it all to go smoothly.” He left out the detail that his side projects in robotics were taking up a lot of his energy too, if it paid off, it’d be worth it.
The vixen hummed, “I bet… Dinner’s almost ready, go get washed up.” She patted his shoulder gently.
Chujin nodded, stopping by the linen closet before hopping into the shower. Just as he’d predicted, the hot water melted the soreness away with surprising effectiveness. He dug his claws into his fur, scrubbing the oily stains out with a heavy dosage of soup. He sat under the running water for a few minutes longer, basking in its warmth as the stress in his system slowly drained out of him.
With a grunt, he hauled himself to his hindpaws and shook off most of the excess water. A combination of towels and a blowdryer got his fur to a mostly dry state as he looked into the mirror. The purple fox looking back at him was a mess, hair and fur jutting out at odd angles as he worked to bring it under control with a brush.
His hair was long, longer than he usually grew it out. It felt nice though, tying it back into a ponytail and feeling it tickle the back of his neck from time to time. Something about it was comforting in a way he couldn’t describe. The fox pulled the brush through the dark purple hair until it was straight, smiling at himself in the mirror as he flicked it to the side with a quick motion.
Patting the remaining water out of his fur, he wrapped himself in a towel and crossed the hallway to his and Ceroba’s shared room. Opening the closet he reached for one of his kimonos, pausing as his eyes drifted to the other outfits filling the clothing rack. Ceroba had a line of pretty looking, if decidedly feminine looking kimonos to match his. He paw followed his eyes as he felt the soft, silk like fabric it was made of. His were soft too, but Ceroba’s were on another level entirely.
The colors on her clothing really popped, bright whites and pretty pinks with a decorative flower design splashed up the side and front. Chujin’s hair hung over one of his eyes as he gripped his wife’s kimono, gently pulling it off the hanger and slipping it on. ’This is silly…’ He looked in the mirror after straightening it out, a feeling of embarrassment washed over him at first but it passed shockingly quickly. It was more of a dress than a kimono, hugging his form closely and extenuating his hips. Chujin’s face felt warm as he flicked his long hair to one side, making him look like a sultry vixen before giggling quietly to himself.
It was childish, hell it was downright ridiculous. But he felt something pleasant stirring in his chest as he looked over himself in that mirror. The dress looked good on him. The fox’s tail swayed behind him as he posed a few times before pulling the borrowed garment off. ’One more couldn’t hurt…’ He reached for a darker dress feeling giddy as the soft fabric slid over him. The blush on his cheeks was visible through his fur as the fox looked over himself in the mirror again, the giddy feeling only grew as he styled his hair into something more feminine.
He giggled again, his tail swaying in large arcs behind him at how pretty he could look. He looked down to smooth out a few wrinkles and caught movement out of the corner of his eye, looking back into the mirror he saw Ceroba in the doorway behind him, mouth agape and eyes wide.
Chujin spun, snatching the towel off the nearby bed as embarrassment flooded his entire being. He tried to cover himself up while stammering out some nonsense. “O-OH I- Didn’t know you- Listen it’s not- I-” His legs shook as the vixen stood and stared, her expression unreadable past the shock.
Without saying anything, she took a deep breath and slowly approached. Chujin sank away from her in shame, struggling to cover himself with the towel and unable to meet her gaze. She stopped in front of him after his back bumped into the mirror, preventing him from retreating any further. Her muzzle was pointed down as she looked him in the eye, a soft smile on her face as she reached for the towel and gently took it away.
Chujin whined, crossing his arms over his chest in a useless attempt to hide himself. Ceroba’s paw came to rest on this chest, right above the collarbone and slowly slid up, tickling his throat before pointing his snout at hers. “Now… what are you up to…?” Her voice was mostly neutral with the barest hint of teasing buried deep. “Last time I checked, that’s mine.” The fox was shaking like a leaf as he waited for the other shoe to drop, for her to make fun of him for acting like a child.
But it never did.
The look on her face softened more as she lightly giggled. “Honey…” Her paw kneaded the side of his snout, “I’m not mad.” She looked down, giving him a once over. Chujin’s tongue was stuck in his throat as the vixen’s eyes met his again. “You look fantastic in that.” She purred, planting a quick kiss on his nose.
His legs gave out, the compliment acting as the final straw and making him slide down to the floor. So many things were running though his head, from the high of trying the clothing on and playing around in front of the mirror to the crushing low of getting caught. Now a new emotion bubbled up at the prospect that Ceroba seemed to enjoy seeing him like this. She ducked down to meet him, taking a seat on the floor beside him with a grin. The vixen leaned into his side, putting an arm over his shoulders.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” She sighed, “This is a bit… strange but…”
“I look ridiculous.” He mumbled, ”I’m being ridiculous.” Covering his face with his paws, he curled up.
Ceroba giggled beside him, pushing her snout into the crook of his neck. “You looked like you were having fun.” She whispered, “Who am I to take that away from you?”
As much as he didn’t want to admit it, she was right. That small spark of giddyness was still glowing in his chest, the feminine clothing was fun to wear and he liked how it looked on him. It would have been so much easier to parse if Ceroba had burst out laughing at him for playing dress up, but instead she’d made it infinitely more complicated by being supportive.
The vixen hummed, “I meant what I said, you look good in that, you wear it almost as good as I do, Honey.” Her tail snaked around his back, coiling around his hips as she snuggled closer. “Is this something you want to do more often…?”
Chujin swallowed nervously.
It was surprisingly easy to say yes.